Heart's Desire, Heart's Pain {LouWebena}

Echo

Louie woke up with a splitting headache on the cold hard ground. He blinked through the sleep in his eyes, taking in the stone walls around him. He was in a cave. But why? Trying to think back made his head hurt worse, sharp pains shooting through him until he felt like crying.

He stumbled to his feet, using the wall as support. Why did his legs hurt so bad? Why did he feel like he would fall over any moment? He followed the line of the wall up to a small tunnel. It was too dark to see where it led, heck it was too dark to see anything. The only light came filtering in through a crack in the ceiling.

He couldn't just stumble into the dark. He needed a light. A flashlight maybe. Or a torch. Or a phone.

A phone!

Leaning against the wall, Louie reached his hand into his hoodie pocket and mentally cheered when he pulled out his phone. Turning it on he was met with a wall of texts.

Huey: Louie please reply!

Dewey: Just answer! Where did Tenderfeet take you?

Tenderfeet? The bigfoot that tried to con his family and threatened to kill them?

A sudden flash of memories filled his mind; playing in the yard with his brothers, Tenderfeet's form blocking the light, the bigfoot towering over him, his sharp teeth stuck in a terrifying grin, the bigfoot's arm coming at him- Louie fell to his knees shaking from the overwhelming feeling of panic surrounding him.

No, no, this can't be happening. He fumbles for his phone, opening his messaging app. He's struggling to type, hands shaking furiously as he tried to send a message. Loading, loading, not sent. No!

Louie dropped the phone on the ground and curled up in a ball against the wall. Feeling hopeless, all Louie can do then is sob. He's going to die at the hands of a bigfoot and his brothers will never ever know what happened to him. And he would never get to tell Lena that he-

Suddenly a gunshot echoed through the cave and Louie grabbed his phone, ready to use it as a weapon. He strained his ears for any noise or indication of what just happened. He froze. Is that...

Voices?

"Aye'm sorry, lad." Uncle Scrooge!

"It's okay uncle Scrooge," Huey! "He was going to hurt Louie."

Louie faltered at that, his mind running a hundred miles per minute. The gunshot, sorry, lad- oh. He relaxed, heartbeat slowing. They killed Tenderfeet. To save him.

He climbed to his feet, still leaning against the wall. Slowly he made his way towards the voices, mentally rejoicing that they were getting louder.

"I just can't believe he conned us and was never my friend." Huey said, hurt.

Louie tensed, feeling sick at his stomach. He didn't want Huey to ever know. Maybe he should just go back to his spot and just stay there until he-

His phone slipped from his hand, making a racket on the ground. He cursed his luck.

Scrooge pressed Huey, Dewey, and Webby back behind him and made a 'quiet' sound at them, then edged toward the tunnel. His gaze fell on the small silhouette of Louie and sighed in relief. Putting his shotgun aside, he held out his arms to the boy.

Louie bent down to pick up his phone, dusting it off -Scrooge smiled fondly, that's my boy- and put it back into his pocket before tackling his uncle into a hug. The older duck stumbled back, landing in the light where the other kids could see Louie clearly.

They joined the hug with tears and apologies. Louie clung tight to whomever he could, glad to be surrounded by family.